The Idea of India

Description

Republished with a new introduction - one of the key books on modern India 'A rich analysis of contemporary India ... spirited, combative and insight-filled' Amartya Sen, TLS The Idea of India was originally published to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence and has since established itself as a uniquely valuable and authoritative book on a key subject. At the heart of India's self-image since independence has been 'the idea of India' - modern, technocratic, egalitarian, secular - but the tensions between the idea and the reality have become almost intolerable.

Sunil Khilnani is Avantha Professor and Director of the King's India Institute, King's College London.

A splendid - and timely - book ... Spirited, combative and insight-filled ... Khilnani has woven a rich analysis of contemporary India and its evolution since indepence. I am inclined to agree with [him] on the robustness and staying power of the secular idea of India -- Amartya Sen * Times Literary Supplement * A masterful rebuttal to all cultural romantics and religious chauvinists ... [A] splendid book about definitions of the Indian nation -- Ian Buruma * New York Review of Books * Especially brilliant is Khilnani's attempt to understand the changing nature of India by studying its urban constructs -- Chitra Divakaruni * Los Angeles Times *